Talented Amy enjoys sweet taste of success

Amy Gilmore recently won the North West Wedding Awards under the category of Best Accessory. She runs a small home based business from our home in Ribchester called Polka Pops, in which she makes bespoke wedding favour cake pops

Published:21:00Tuesday 07 July 2015

Share this article

A Ribchester mum who gave up her full-time job to pursue her hobby has sampled the sweet taste of success after scooping an award for her quirky cakes.

Amy Gilmore (34), who runs Polka Pops, beat stiff competition from national companies to win the Best Wedding Cake 2015 prize at the County Brides Awards ceremony at St George’s Hall in Liverpool.

The awards are in their fifth year and cover everything from venues and transport to entertainment and floristry – and the judges were wowed by Amy’s inventive designs.

Mother-of-three Amy, who used to work as a baker for Blackburn Asda, decided to launch her business in 2012 when she was on maternity leave with her youngest boy, Toby, who is now three. She said: “At the time, I decided that I wanted to stay with my three boys instead of going back to work.

“I had sold the cake pops at a few farmer’s markets in the area and always ended up selling out of them and then when I made them for a friend of a friend’s wedding it just snowballed – everybody was asking for them.”

Amy, who is married to her firefighter husband Dave, and has two more sons Morgan (12) and seven-year-old Sam, is no stranger to winning awards for her delicious and innovative cake creations. Last year she won the Best Wedding Accessory Award and two weeks ago was runner up in the Great Northern Wedding Awards in the wedding cake category at a ceremony held at Beeston Manor, Hoghton. Her cakes are already on sale in three Selfridge stores and Amy is also looking at new collaborations.